The use of remote terminal servers to view data and execute remote applications from connected local nodes has had a significant following, particularly in the business sector and amongst enterprises, for many years. In particular, because terminal server connections allow remote nodes to view the results of applications that are actually executed exclusively on a server, actual processing capability of the local nodes may be minimal. Thus, by limiting primary responsibility for processing to a single machine with extensive computing capability, computing power is maximized for a greater number of users at minimal expense.
Despite the advantages terminal servers afford, the use of such connections is also typically associated with certain downsides. In particular, terminal server connections usually involve access to interfaces and protocols and parameters that are proprietary or specific to a given terminal server package. As a result, extra time and expense is necessarily incurred by an enterprise that uses such connections in parallel with the more popular, standardized and flexible web-based protocols for inter-network and intra-network access.
As result, various attempts have been made to develop products allowing users at clients with standard, web-based browsers to access and make use of terminal server connections. The client functionality incorporated in the Metaframe program developed by Citrix Corporation is an example of such a product.
These software programs allow a web client to is establish a terminal server connection using various methods. In one method for allowing web-client access to terminal servers, known in the prior art, a web page designer first creates a group of web pages at a web server. Each such page contains information including all the parameters necessary for a corresponding terminal server connection. A user can then click a URL via the browser to retrieve the page corresponding to a selected terminal server connection. Finally, terminal server client software on the client can then use the information in the retrieved page to create the selected terminal server connection.
The advantage of this method is that a standardized URL can be used to specify a terminal connection in its entirety, thus allowing the user to benefit from the flexibility and convenience associated with the ongoing integration of URL functionality into numerous applications (e.g., point and click convenience in e-mail applications).
Unfortunately, this method is also associated with a disadvantage. In particular, it requires the web page author to code terminal server information into a separate HTML page for each web-accessible terminal server connection.
In another method for allowing web-client access to terminal servers, the web page developer provides a set of web page interfaces, which the user can retrieve and use to specify the terminal server connection, including each connection parameter, locally. Once specified by the user, terminal server client software on the client can then use the information specified to create the selected terminal server connection. The advantage of this method is that the web page author is not required to code terminal server information into a separate HTML page for each existing web-accessible terminal sever connections.
Unfortunately, because a URL is not used to specify the connection, the flexibility and convenience of using a standardized addressing protocol, described above, are missing.
Therefore, what is needed is a way for allowing web-client access to terminal servers, using the flexibility and convenience of URL's, but without requiring extensive web page coding by a web page author.